A/N: Silver Shore takes off exactly where Make me love you left us, I hope you enjoy!

I decided to split the story in two because I realised it's gonna be longer than planned and it makes more sense to divide it in at least two acts (maybe even three? we'll see). I hope you like this second part! Lexa and Clarke will interact more and more as the story goes on and never forget that YES, clexa is, of course!, endgame. I decided to explore more of the Ice Nation with Lexa as to give her time to get close to Clarke again so we're not going back to Polis and Arkadia yet! Enjoy it while it lasts because canon-ish assholes await back in Arkadia.

On a sidenote, I posted this story on Ao3 some time ago and I'll keep posting on there first, so if you can't wait you can always look for my profile on archive of our own, the name is the same.

Enjoy!

Recap:

Clarke left Camp Jaha after destroying the Mountain and wandered off in the woods until she crossed the border without knowing and found herself in the cold land of the Ice Nation.

There she meets the rebels and she learns that the Ice people are not responsible for the reputation of their nation, the Queen is, and she's responsible for a great deal of pain caused to the Ice people as well. The rebels fight the Queen and Clarke decides to join them after finding new friends in Cristallo, the village that offers her shelter. That's how she meets Aeryn, who welcomed Clarke in her home, and Wit, the cheerful guy who tells her about the rebels, Nyx, the rebels' leader and one of the best fighters in the village, Malaya, the broody girl and very skilled warrior, Liri, an ex warrior of late King Kyr, Chayim, Faith and many other rebels.

Together they start the Ice rebellion and prepare to fight the Queen, they travel to gather rebels from all around the country and bring the Ice people together for a final war against the cruel ruler.

Meanwhile, Lexa tries and fails to keep the Coalition together and finds herself facing a new threat of war, the clans once again divided in two for an old war between Trikru and Azgeda. When she learns that Clarke has been captured by the Ice Queen she leaves her people to prepare for war and leads a small army to Ice, after seeking the help of the Sky People, bringing Abby news on Clarke's whereabouts.

Trikru and Skaikru march together and meet a group of rebels who stayed behind to take care of the Queen's soldiers camped further down from the capital. That's how Lexa learns the Ice people suffer from the Queen reign even more than the other clans do. They join forces as Lexa convinces the rebels she's there to fight the Queen, not the people, and they march towards Ice together.

When they reach Ice they find the rebels have won the civil war and the Queen has fallen. Lexa is shocked to see Clarke alive and leading the army of rebels and Moon warriors. After convincing the rebels that Lexa doesn't mean them any harm, they accept to let the Commander, Trikru healers and a few Sky people into the capital.

Chapter One : Gonplei Odon

Walking back through the city Clarke looks around and her mind fills with scenes from the battle, she imagines all the rebels who lost their life on those streets, all the Moon warriors who died, who bled out on foreign ground to aid old allies. She thinks about the young lives that didn't get to taste the victory they achieved, thinks of all the friends and family they have lost to get there.

They still don't know who's dead and who's alive, she still doesn't know who among her friends made it and who has left them to take her of the new beginning. The news of an army marching towards Ice didn't leave them time to check on everyone, Clarke can only be sure of the people around her. Nyx is alive, and for that she thanks whatever gods there might be. Faith is okay and according to the girl they might have to thank an enemy for that, Clarke is grateful anyway and she knows that so is Nyx. Malaya is hurt, but she'll make it, Chayim and Wit are both alive, Katarina, Liri and Ethan all made it. But Clarke still doesn't know the fate of so many and it's killing her.

Is Aeryn alright? Were she safe with the small group who stayed behind? Did Goral, Xavier, Kora, all the others she has lost sight of make it? Not knowing who they have lost is driving her crazy, she can see that Nyx is tense too at her side. Clarke knows it's both because of the uncertainty that haunts her too and because of the Trikru and Skaikru warriors walking back to Ice with them.

To be completely honest she is worried too. She feels guilty for being wary of her own people, she knows her mother only followed Lexa because the Commander promised to find Clarke. Still, she knows the people she grew up with, she knows all too well how they reacted to grounders, how most of them still don't trust any among the grounders. She's afraid of what they might think of the Ice people. She knows what Ice's reputation is, and even if that was only based on the Queen's actions and doesn't represents the Ice people at all, she knows many, probably most, won't be able to look past it. She hopes her mother will, but she knows better than to hope.

It's going to make it all worse that Clarke has no intention of leaving Ice just yet. Surely her mother will want to take Clarke back to Camp Jaha – or Arkadia, as Octavia said they now call it – and the blonde can imagine she won't be pleased at her refusal. Clarke can't just leave, she has a family in Ice now, a family she feels closer to than the very people she grew up with – she can't help but feel guilty about that as well, but Ice feels more like home than Camp Jaha or the Ark ever felt. She can't abandon them to rebuild their nation from the ashes of a terrible ruler.

Which brings her to another huge question mark, what are they going to do now? What comes next? She feels like they're about to take a step into utter darkness and they'll have to walk into it blindly. She vaguely hopes someone will step up and instruct them with what is to be done now, but she knows that's not gonna happen. The rebels look up at Nyx and her – Clarke has accepted that now – and they will turn to Liri for directions, but ultimately it will be another team work and they can only hope it will be enough.

She tries not to think about Lexa a few steps behind.

... ... ...

Lexa stares around herself in disbelief and clear respect. These rebels have managed to do what trained Trikru warriors have never achieved. She solved her people's problem by forcing the Queen into an alliance, but she was never aware of the conditions Ice people lived in.

The part of her that's not awed by the achievement of a few thousands of untrained civilians feels somehow guilty at never having done anything to help the people of Ice. If she had known about the rebellion, she would have offered her clan's support and the help of her warriors.

As she follows the rebels through the conquered capital she realises that, although they succeeded well without her help, she might have been able to cut many losses. She takes comfort in knowing her army eliminated the troupes they encountered entering the Nation, and she silently promises to the orphan kids that hide inside the houses, to the teenage boys and girls who carry on, supporting the weight of their weapons still after the long fight, to help the injured, to those who are bent over the bodies of loved ones, she promises that she will help them along the road they still have to fight their way into.

She looks at the silver soldiers, she hasn't seen a warrior clad in silver armour fight since she was a child. And she has never seen so many of them on an actual battle field. The Moon Clan answered to their old ally. And proved, yet again, to be an unstoppable force.

They progress further and Lexa watches the experienced ones among the rebels – the ones who were warriors before the reign of the Queen, the ones who had fought wars greater than this – as they stay strong, they don't pause to mourn, knowing the time for it is not now. She watches as the pride of Ice awakens in the heart of its old guardians.

But she also notices the fire in the young eyes that have just seen more death than ever in their lives. Hatan said Clarke has raised the fire below the ice and made it burn again, he said the Sky Princess has brought back the passion in the heart of wrought people and given Ice spirit back to its Nation.

It seems to Lexa that he was right. These young people might not be warriors, but they are some of the fiercest fighters Lexa has ever seen.

Many look at her with distrust, some with honest confusion, some with disgust, some only with a tired face. She offers to them all a respectful nod, trying not to pose herself as a threat.

She knows the battlefield very well, she's familiar with the aftermath of a war, she knows what needs to be done and which tasks to secure first. Yet she has a feeling she's never been on a battlefield quite like this.

There is something sacred in the air, as if a sense of holy. She knows the Ice people will remember this day for a long time, she knows they will think back to this day with pride and respect, reminding themselves what they had lost and what they got back with this civil war.

There will probably be many stories and songs about this, artists will aid the Nation's memory and commemorate the warriors. They will remember that the fighters who gave the people their nation back were no more than rebels. And they will know that rebellion is part of the essence of Ice. The rebellion against anything that threatens freedom.

Lexa has read about the ancient days of Ice, in those books the people of this clan were described much differently from what Lexa learned by herself. They were said to be lovers and fighters, passionate artists and silly children. This clan was said to be the joyous Nation where the ice glittered with reflections of its people's smiles. But most of all the Ice Nation was called the lands of freedom.

Lexa never understood where those definitions came from, so unfitting to the Queen's reign. Until now.

Now she can see the freedom shine in rebel eyes. Watching these people who fought for a nation everyone else had already forgotten, Lexa can picture the ice glittering with smiles.

And one smile in particular will join the ice, because she's sure her name will create stories of its own and the Ice people will never forget the person who gave them back the fire to burn the frost.

There will be no knight in the stories sung by artists around the clans, but a princess who defeated the Queen herself.

Inevitably her gaze shifts to Clarke. The woman is walking ahead with the rebels leading their group, Lexa's eyes fix on the back of her head.

Clarke is not wearing the blue leather jacket Lexa is used to see her in, she has Ice clothes and an incomplete light armour on – it is as if someone had stripped some of the pieces off and Lexa, not knowing that Clarke lost them to the guards in the Queen's prison, figures the woman might have taken them off right after the battle. A sword and a hatchet strapped to her side are all the weapons Lexa can see, though Nyx's dagger is strapped safely on the front of her belt.

Again, Lexa feels the relief, that seeing Clarke brings, wash over her. Clarke is alive. I didn't kill her. It's like finally being able to breathe properly after months of aching lungs. Clarke likely hates her still, but at least she's alive, at least now Lexa is with her and she can make sure Clarke also stays alive.

Lexa's heart soars at the sight of the walking strong woman ahead, and at the same times cries out for what is to come. Sooner or later Clarke and Lexa will have to talk, a part of her can't wait any more, but a greater part is utterly terrified. How can she face sky blue eyes, how can she beg for a forgiveness she is not allowed to ask? How can she make Clarke understand how sorry she is, when she can't apologise for her actions?

How can she obtain pardon without repentance?

Can she really leave with the constant ache of the crushing knowledge that Clarke hates her? With her heart hurting everyday, incessantly, with no hope for leniency, how can she survive years with such a burning hatred for herself waking inside of her day after day?

How can she serve her people when she resents the Commander for the love that never got to pass? How can she be Heda when Lexa cries out inside of her, louder every day? How can she silence her heart when it fills her head with screams and yearning?

But Clarke is alive, and for now that balsam is enough to soothe the voices screaming in her mind and the pounding in her heart.

... ... ...

They are in the palace, Clarke didn't get the chance to check on the others yet, but Chayim has left earlier promising to come back with news.

Ethan and Hatan are updating each other on what happened and Liri is talking to Indra about the war. Abby hasn't stopped asking questions and Clarke is grateful to Nyx for handling all of them.

Lexa is the only one who has remained silent the whole time, she's listening to everyone, but she hasn't spoken a word yet and it's starting to unnerve Clarke a little.

"You did it", Hatan voice startles Clarke out of her quiet observation of the Commander and she turns to find him looking at Nyx and her with pride.

"You two led us to victory. And it's thanks to you if they followed, Wanheda".

Nyx scowls at him for calling Clarke that, but he says that she might be the Commander of Death after all.

"She did save Ice from it".

He smiles and Clarke offers a smile back, still cringing at the unpleasant title.

"You led them?" Octavia repeats, incredulous.

At that, Nyx smiles proudly, "She did".

Clarke chuckles and protests, "I just helped you lead them, you did the hard work".

But Nyx shakes her head, amused smile in place, "You brought them here. I told you, you gave Ice its passion back".

Lexa is staring at Clarke, the surprise in her eyes much dimmer than the others', the pride much brighter. Her expression matches Nyx's, but Clarke ignores it.

The grounders look at her with respect and fear, her own people reserve her only surprised looks, but her mother looks torn.

Clarke can see the doubt on Abby's face, the relief of seeing that Clarke is alive and the mistrust for these people her daughter has allied herself with. Clarke sighs thinking of how her mother will react when she'll realise Clarke hasn't built an alliance, but found a family.

They are interrupted by Chayim's return, Nyx meets him half way as she notices the tears in his eyes.

He whispers something and it's just loud enough to catch it. Nyx, Clarke and Katarina immediately run out with him.

"Goral is dead".